One blessing at a time

Bricco Bracco

If you read yesterday’s post, you knew it was Greg’s birthday. Of course we always go out to eat for special occasions like this, but it’s always up in the air as to who decides. This year we decided that we would each pick the restaurant for our own birthday. As much as I looove Bricco Bracco, I really want to try somewhere new for my day. So I was happy Greg chose BB for himself!

It’s so dark in the restaurant that I can never get good pictures, but I have to at least try. And the food is so good that they deserve to be shared.

Like I said yesterday, it is the beginning of Charleston Restaurant Week, where restaurants all around the city offer special menus (mostly 3-course menus) for a set price. So we were able to each get an appetizer, main course and dessert for $20 per person. Plus, Bricco Bracco was throwing in $3 glasses of house wine if you order from the special menu.

What you see here is my most favorite restaurant bread. And it’s even made in-house!

I started with the Tuscan White Bean and Potato Soup. Not amazing, but not bad by any means.

My main course was the Cavatelli and Broccoli, served in an olive oil and garlic sauce. I opted not to add chicken, but that would have been a nice addition. Again, I wasn’t completely impressed with this dish, but glad I tried something new and was still not disappointed.

For dessert, you could choose from tiramisu or a cannoli. We got one of each. I loved the cannoli, but didn’t care much for the tiramisu…just not rich enough for my liking.

Luckily, Greg didn’t care for the cannoli so I got the whoooolllleee thing!

After dinner we were going to meet some friends for a drink downtown. To kill some time until they were ready, we browsed around Barnes and Noble.

I found this journal and I WANT this journal.

I have to say thank you again to all of my family (mom, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, etc….literally EVERYONE) who found the most perfect cupcake-related gifts for me for Christmas this year. They were all so thoughtful and this journal just reminded me of that again. I know there’s a big cupcake fad right now so it’s not necessarily difficult to find these things, but even so, anything cupcake related makes me smile.

Then I saw this book.

I didn’t need to read any further than the title. I get the gist of it and that is my goal for this coming week: Throw out fifty things around my house. Whether that’s clothes (I will donate those, not just throw away), or old magazines (and don’t worry, I will recycle those), or food going bad in the fridge, I really do want to de-clutter my life.

I already got my workout in for the day, followed by a protein shake (Mmmm), so my Saturday is off to a good start. I have a lot of errands to run and de-cluttering ahead of me so I better get to it!

What are you doing this weekend?

Ohmygosh and I completely forgot…I have the brownest of brown bananas that are ready to be turned into banana bread! That might just be the highlight of my weekend and it hasn’t even happened yet!

Was it just me, or did this past week draaaag on and on? Well, it’s finally over so I’m not going to dwell on it any longer.

My weekend started off great. I even got off work about 45 minutes early. When I got home, Greg and I watched a couple episodes of The Office with my free trial of streaming Netflix. We have been spending every evening this way for about two weeks now. After I let Greg get his “Office fix,” we headed to one of our favorite spots for dinner: Bricco Bracco!

We have been there a couple of times before (see my last post about it here), and every time it has been just as good as the last.

I was already planning on ordering a bottle of wine before we even got to the restaurant and was excited to try the wine on special for $17 (originally a $30 bottle)! What a deal.

The bread at Bricco Bracco is ahhhhh mazing. I usually try to be careful not to eat too much bread in order to avoid filling up before dinner, but I couldn’t help myself. And I didn’t care one bit.

Last time we went, Greg’s mom had some sort of butternut squash ravioli that was on special. I was hoping it would be on the menu again last night, but it wasn’t. Just as good though was the Lobster and Shrimp Ravioli.

The picture hardly does it justice, because all you can really see is that delicious vodka sauce. But take my word for it. This was probably my favorite meal at Bricco Bracco yet.

Greg had the Chicken Marsala. He commented that the chicken was bland, but the marsala sauce made up for it.

Today my mom is hosting the family Christmas party at our house (in Columbus…not Charleston). To all of my family reading this, I wish I could be with you all today! I already saw pictures of the baking extravaganza my sister had yesterday to prepare for the party and I am so jealous. Maybe I will have a Christmas party of my own this afternoon so I feel like I’m part of it all. Ok, that probably won’t happen because I will actually be running around trying to do last minute shopping!

My deep(ish) Italian roots were loving me when we went to Bricco Bracco for dinner the other night. Greg and I went to the Italian restaurant a few months ago and l-o-v-ed it. Greg’s mom was in town for work this week so we headed back to re-experience the carb-filled goodness.

Every single part of the meal was amazing. First of all, the garlic olive oil and bread. Hot. Fresh. Soft. Flavorful. Perfect.

Then came the appetizer. The restaurant is known for their fresh mozzarella made in-house. Since Greg and I didn’t try it the first time we were there, it was a must this time. We had the “A La Prosciutto” mozzarella plate. It was good, but I would also be curious to try something different next time.

Next up: Entrees. Just like the first time we went, it took me about 20 minutes to decide what I wanted (my indecisiveness drives Greg cray-cray). Side note- You know what “cray-cray” is if you have watched the new show “Whitney” on NBC. It’s Greg’s new thing to say “cray-cray” all the time, rather than “crazy.” Ok back to business. I finally decided on the Eggplant Parmesan Tower.

I made a great choice and will not forget about this baby next time we go. As if the tower wasn’t enough food by itself, it comes with a side of penne with marinara sauce. The penne wasn’t anything amazing, but still nice to have on the side.

Greg ordered Chicken Giambotta. However you think that word is pronounced…I would bet to say you are wrong. The waiter had to correct us, and I still didn’t quite catch the proper pronunciation. Basically it involved chicken, roasted peppers, sauteed onions and sausage. All of that was topped with “fried potatoes.” I don’t know what I was expecting to see with the fried potatoes, but we were all surprised to see what that meant…

…Potato chips! Interesting touch, huh? I only had a small bite of this, but Greg really enjoyed it.

The star of the evening was the Butternut Squash Ravioli that Greg’s mom ordered. It was a special for the evening and part most of the reason I had such a difficult time deciding what I wanted in the first place. I think we all agreed that the ravioli was a great choice.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture at the restaurant. Fortunately, there were leftovers that I had for lunch the next day. I was sure to snap a photo then.

Sorry it’s not the most appealing pic, but don’t judge a ravioli by my poor photography skills.

I don’t think I could choose between the ravioli and my eggplant tower. Hopefully they don’t have this ravioli on special next time so my decision will be made a little easier.

Oh yeah, and I forgot about the wine! It is hard to find a restaurant where you can get a bottle of wine for $18. But you can at Bricco Bracco! We had the house Malbec. An Italian meal without wine is like “a boyfriend without his girlfriend” (so says Greg when I asked him for advice with this one. Isn’t he so cute. Ha!).

Another nice thing about this meal was that it was stretched far beyond that hour in the restaurant.

See those? Those are all of our leftovers! Guess I don’t need to go grocery shopping this week. I have lunch and dinner taken care of for a few days.

If you’re in the Charleston area, I highly recommend Bricco Bracco. I knew how great it was after the first time I went, but the second time was even better and reaffirmed my original thoughts. It might just be my favorite restaurant. And I don’t use that term loosely. Well, sometimes I do, but I’m serious this time.